


Why don’t you just fix him?

by Akuoni



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 15:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30108294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akuoni/pseuds/Akuoni
Summary: Tony’s always yelling at his bot. Steve doesn’t understand why.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	Why don’t you just fix him?

Tony’s head shot up at the question as his rant cut off mid-word. He gritted his teeth as he narrowed his eyes to glare at Steve with a hiss of anger. Steve’s expression twisted into a look of confusion at his anger, only spiking it into something more venomous. 

“What the _fuck_ Rogers?” He snapped, shoulders tensing as he jabbed a finger at Bucky, “why don’t I dig around in your old pal’s head while we’re at it, right?”

“ _He’s_ not a robot!” Steve snapped in turn, ignoring the way Bucky went tense beside him and the over avengers looked at each other uneasily as he jabbed his own finger at the bot that was whirring uneasily, “you spend all your time yelling at DUM-E for stuff when you can _fix_ it with a snap of your fingers! All you ever do is insult him and threaten him for something you put in him! It’s not his _fault_! He didn’t _ask_ to be made that way! _You’re_ the one who made him and all he does is make you mad! Why don’t you just shut him down if you hate him so much?”

Bucky reached out while Steve was yelling and yanked him close, shoving his face against the join of his chest and throat before taking Steve’s hand and pressing it to where his heart was beating. 

Tony had gone white through Steve’s tirade, eyes wide as he looked at the way the other man trembled before looking down at his robot. Dum-E chirped in bewilderment as the other avengers decided that this argument wasn’t something they wanted to be a part of. Disappearing silently as Tony clenched his hands tightly.

“I love him like he’s my own son. I’d never do anything to him,” he bit out, feeling sick at the accusations as he dropped his gaze to the bot that rolled closer, “I don’t mean anything I say when I tell him that.”

“It doesn’t sound like that to me,” Steve’s voice lacked the hysteric anger of before, but it also lacked anything else that could have replaced it, “it just sounds like you hate him.”

“I would _never_ give him up. I made him when I was 16 and I never did anything but upgrade him with new parts. He gets the best technology as it comes out and I pretend to drink the smoothies he makes. I love him,” Tony insisted, wondering how this conversation had gone so strange. He didn’t understand why Bucky was holding Steve like that, nor why Steve was letting him. Didn’t understand why Steve shook and trembled, but he knew it couldn’t be for a good reason, “I’ll stop yelling at him. It’s not good for my blood pressure anyways.”

Steve didn’t answer, but Bucky gave him a subtle nod before drawing Steve to his feet and the both of them left. Tony tapped his fingers on his arc reactor and went to look up the date of Joseph Roger’s death. 1926. 

Years after Steve Rogers had been born. 


End file.
